1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an information processing apparatus and a method for displaying auxiliary information.
2. Description of the Related Art
An input means such as a keyboard, mouse, touch pad, touch panel, and dial are connected to electronic devices such as a personal computer (hereinafter, referred to as a PC) and mobile phone. Thus, a user can input information into various kinds of electronic devices using these input means. In recent years, a virtual operation system constructed in a display screen using computer graphics (hereinafter, referred to as CG) has used in such electronic devices. Such a virtual operation system is a so-called graphical user interface (hereinafter, referred to as a GUI).
If the GUI is mounted, the user can cause CG to move using the above input means and cause predetermined processing to perform by operating CG. For example, the user can select CG corresponding to a desired application using the mouse and start the desired application by pressing a predetermined key in the keyboard. CG includes a selection button, display menu, and check box. If, for example, a hierarchical display menu is used, applications and the like can hierarchically be classified in accordance with types and attributes, thereby increasing user convenience. However, if the hierarchical structure becomes more complex, operating processes of the user increase so that convenience is rather decreased.
Thus, a special key operation called a short cut may be allocated to each display menu. When such a short cut is used, the user can directly select a desired display menu by performing a special key operation or start an application corresponding to the display menu. A technology called a mouse gesture is known as a technique, like the short cut, to improve operation efficiency of the user. According to this technology, if the user draws a locus of a predetermined shape using a mouse cursor, an application associated with the shape is started.
As an application of the mouse gesture, for example, Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2005-339420 discloses a technology to start an application by drawing a locus of a predetermined shape on a touch panel using a finger. The above document also describes a concrete example in which the gesture function is applied to on-vehicle equipment like a car navigation system. When the input means is limited like on-vehicle equipment and small information equipment, an operation system capable of inputting information by gestures can significantly improve user convenience.